Wednesday's World Cup semifinal between Argentina and the Netherlands probably won't go down in history like Germany's 7-1 humiliation of host Brazil on Tuesday. On the bright side, however, it promises to actually be a good match.

Over the course of four decades, this pairing—a rematch of the 1978 World Cup final, won by Argentina—has become a great international rivalry that few know about.

"Argentina has to come out with a lot of respect, they have to be very careful because Netherlands will be very determined," said Mario Kempes, the hero of Argentina's triumph 36 years ago. "They are coming to this match with a 'chip on their shoulder,' athletically speaking, from 1978." (Read more about Argentina's team.)

Setting aside history and matrimonial awkwardness for a moment, Argentina's Lionel Messi and the Netherlands' Arjen Robben are the two most dangerous players left in the tournament. Both are scintillating strikers who can change a game instantly—Messi with his dribbling skills and Robben with his penetrating runs from the outside in.

Related Video

WSJ's Geoff Foster joins Simon Constable on the News Hub to discuss Germany's blowout victory over Brazil and the team's chances of winning the World Cup, and previews the Argentina-Netherlands semifinal match. Photo: Getty

Argentina has had 87 attempts on goal through five games, or one every five minutes, just behind Belgium, which led the World Cup through the quarterfinals with 91. The Netherlands has had 75 attempts, but it also scored a Cup-high 12 goals through the quarters.

"It is 50-50," Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal said Tuesday. "We're going to have to be a bit lucky."

Yet, international soccer is never just about numbers when the heavyweights get together. This game is no exception.

This rivalry begins with the identities that both countries have forged as the second sisters of soccer in their respective continents, obsessed with outdoing—or at the very least, outclassing—their much larger and more successful neighbors. The Dutch spend most of their football lives churning their stomachs over Germany, just as Argentines do with Brazil.

Argentina has won two world championships, one of them tainted in the eyes of many (more on that in a moment), compared with five for Brazil. The Dutch have never won, but have been to the final three times, while Germany has won three championships.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Argentina was one of the top underperformers in world soccer. The country that produced the great Alfredo di Stéfano only got past the World Cup group stage once from 1950 to 1970.

At the 1974 World Cup, a Dutch team led by Johan Cruyff became the talk of the tournament with its "Total Football," a dizzying attack where players rotate and overlap across the field and where every player plays every position. Argentina scoffed. Soccer was supposed to be an expression of individual creativity and freedom, not some mechanized system. To them, the Dutch nickname, "Clockwork Orange," was a term of derision.

Then the two sides met for the first time in the quarterfinal—a 4-0 rout by the Dutch. That defeat had a profound impact on Argentine soccer, leading to the hiring of César Luis Menotti and a new approach.

"It was a disaster," said Ariel Holan, the assistant coach at Club Atlético Banfield in Buenos Aires, of the 1974 rout. "Holland showed us a new level of soccer and so Menotti tried to [get Argentina] to play as the Netherlands. For a long time, since 1974, the Netherlands was a reference point for Argentina."

Four years later, they met again in the World Cup final in Buenos Aires. The Dutch were still the class of world soccer, but Mario Kempes touched in the game winner in extra time of what would be a 3-1 triumph.

"It showed that Argentina could compete with the best team of Europe, in fitness, in the tactics and the style of play," Holan said. "It was validation."

To the Dutch and much of the soccer world, though, Argentina never should have been in that final in the first place.

Needing to win by at least four goals over Peru to advance ahead of Brazil in the preliminary round, Argentina won 6-0 in a game whose outcome was said to be arranged by military dictator Jorge Rafael Videla. Ever since, any mention of that 1978 triumph has elicited shakes of the head from Europe's soccer establishment.

"There are memories of that," said ESPN analyst and ex-Dutch international Ruud van Nistelrooy of that final. "You can say that every game we play against Argentina reminds people of the World Cup final that we lost."

The Dutch would have to wait 20 years for revenge. It finally came in the quarterfinals of the 1998 World Cup. With the final seconds ticking away and the game knotted 1-1, Frank de Boer's pass from 60 yards away found Dennis Bergkamp in front of the goal. Bergkamp brought the ball down, took one more touch and pounded it into the roof of the net. Another 16 years would pass before Argentina would get back to the semifinals.

"Soccer is like that—it takes a while to heal the wound," Kempes said.

And then there is the Dutch royal family. King Willem-Alexander is a much-beloved monarch, a sportsman who has completed the Netherlands' 125-mile ice-skating marathon and spent much of February cheering on the Dutch Olympic team.

One of the few controversial moves Willem-Alexander has made was marrying Queen Maxima, the daughter of a cabinet minister during Videla's military regime responsible for the disappearance of thousands of civilians. In fairness, though, she was born in 1971 and was a mere 'tween at the time.

Futterman, you have redeemed yourself with this very interesting and enlightening article on the Netherlands vs. Argentina rivalry, a topic which has perplexed me for years. You certainly deserve the link posted on page one today, in my view.

Yesterday, several of your colleagues posted excellent articles on the games themselves, while you wandered off through the side streets of Brazil gathering impressions of life there, as you see it, perhaps searching for fresh entries to your diary. Today, you have returned, to join them in serving your reader's true interests in the Cup, as it churns toward Sunday's finale. Well done, Futterman.

@Patrick Ny Just in 1978, Mr. Ny. Holland won in 1974, per the article. I remember that Dutch team: very talented and precise. Took West Germany all they had to win especially after falling behind at the 1 minute mark, as I recall.

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.